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The midfield hard man of rugby and league recalls his playing highlights with PETER JESSUP.

Craig Innes is a rare breed - a rugby-cum-league professional just when it has become not only possible but downright fashionable.

But for Innes, the clock is winding down. He will be 32 in September. His wife Sara has just given birth to their first child Gabrielle, and Innes will pull the plug on the codes at the end of this season.

After a career that hit the highlights in rugby and league it is the simple things that matter now, like making his 40th and blazer game for Ponsonby's Ponies last weekend against Suburbs.

After one season with Marist he crossed town, made the Auckland and All Black sides, left for the other code, came back, and in all took 11 years to reach the club milestone.

"Eleven years, but it's been worth it. I'm still enjoying it, otherwise I wouldn't do it," said Innes after the announcement this week that he was no longer part of Auckland's NPC plans for the season.

It was a mutual decision he reached with coach Wayne Pivac. "I was retiring at the end of the season for sure anyway.

"The NPC is the right place to bring through talent, and there's plenty of talent there. It was time for me to step aside and let them have a go, and good luck to them," the big centre said.

"I'm a realist. If you stick around for long enough, sooner or later that [getting dropped] is gonna happen to you."

Innes has been a reliable, hard-tackling, line-breaking, stand-and-deliver runner in whatever midfield he has played in - Auckland and the Blues, the All Blacks, the 1996 Manly league premiership winning side who also included Matthew Ridge, and stints with the Western Reds and Leeds.

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He loves both games. "Union was in the blood, I grew up with it. I've been around it all my life and it's always been close to my heart."

Of league: "It was tough - a real grind in Australia, and I really liked that. No quarter asked or given, and I enjoyed that."

The bad side? "The continual rule changes and changes in interpretations in rugby are frustrating, for everyone. A scrappy, messy game is no fun for the players and no good to look at."

Comparisons? "You can't compare them. They're totally different games, totally different requirements. In league it's up to you how much you want to get involved, and I liked that."

Highlights? "The grand final win." He opened the scoring for Manly against St George when he pounced on a Geoff Toovey kick after five minutes.

Ridge played his usual controversial role with a run to set up a try when opponents believed he had been tackled. Manly won 20-8.